Please Leave a Message
by Skyskater
Summary: He called her, and got her answering machine. He finally stopped trying at 2 in the morning. 2 in the morning was when her house went up in flames.


**Meant to provoke the mind.  
I don't own Bleach. I'm sorry to all of you who are crying because I don't.  
BASIC KNOWLEDGE OF IM LANGUAGE REQUIRED!  
Can you guess which Bleach couple I am writing about? All answerers get a free cookie!**

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He's lonely. He really is. And he wonders if she is lonely too. But he can't say, because she's not here to tell him, and their guardians don't allow them to exchange tender messages when they are together. He snorts, knowing how very stupid and yet how very clever this is of them at the same time. 

He stands up now, and paces around his room. He's done his homework and his chores, watched a bit of TV with his younger siblings, and has left his computer on in hopes that she will send him a message. But she hasn't, and he wonders what is going on. By this time, she would already have done homework and chores, so why isn't she talking to him? Had he done something wrong? He hopes not. He doesn't want her to be mad at him, or her older brother to be mad at him either. He never really had been on the same plane with the man, anyway.

The first time he'd met him he was shocked, to say the least. He looked absolutely nothing like his younger sister, and acted nothing like her either. He seemed...naturally depressed, even though he let out an aura of total strength and protection. His dark eyes had bored into him for a minute, in close scrutiny, and he had to gulp so as not to faint under the intense stare of the man. Then, with one last nod of approval, he turned, walked away, and let the two of them alone.

Even though he has his approval, he is still cautious when it comes to her. He knows that the man is very protective of his younger sister and doesn't want to screw up, or else he'll lose her forever. And he doesn't want that, because she is the only one that really can understand him and can still maintain a healthy relationship with him at the same time. Nobody has ever been able to do that before, and there have been so many people who have tried.

He hears his computer beep to say he has an IM. He looks at it eagerly, hoping it is from her. But it's not, and even though he is happy to have someone to talk to, he is crestfallen because it is not from her; Has she forgotten him? Already?

**PrincessPrincess: **r u ok? u seemed kinda down at skool 2day  
**Protector15: **fine. dont wrry bout me.  
**PrincessPrincess: **r u sure?  
**Protector15: **yeah. ty 4 asking.  
**PrincessPrincess: **well, feel better 2morrow k?  
**Protector15: **yeah. cya.

That conversation hadn't been that enlightening. He hadn't enjoyed it much, and was still left with that horrible empty feeling he always got when he was worried about her. It wasn't natural for her NOT to respond to him, and he'd already sent her countless text messages and letters. Not a single one had been replied to, and he wondered if maybe she was sick. But she couldn't have been, because she had been at school today; then he remembered. She'd seemed sort of depressed today. That wasn't natural, either. She was happy, cheerful, bouncy, all the time, but never depressed. Something had to be wrong, and if something was wrong, she would have told him. But she hadn't. Was it family issues or something? Or was this her way of silently telling him that her older brother didn't want them together anymore, and she was silently breaking up with him? He can't tell, and he isn't sure if he really wants to know.

The rest of the night is silent and he is worried about her. And the text messaging on his phone has reached the limit. He checks online one more time. She isn't there.

His sleep is restless and he wakes up frequently in the middle of the night. He calls her cell phone over and over, but she never picks up, and he keeps getting her answering machine. He finally stops trying at 2 in the morning. He needs to get a good night's rest if they're going to be acting out Romeo and Juliet in Music/Drama.

The next morning he is up early enough to grab a piece of toast and watch a bit of the morning news. A female reporter is on the screen, and she is talking about a fire.

"And today, at 2 in the morning, a house has gone up in flames. The cause is unknown, and firefighters are trying to douse the high flames as we speak. This is strange enough in itself; even stranger is the fact that none of the nearby buildings are threatened."

He's stopped listening to what she is saying. His eyes bore into the screen, trying to read the black numbers that tell the address. His eyes widen, the toast falls to the floor. That's her house!!!

The street lamps flash past as he runs, faster, faster, to get to her house. A bead of sweat trickles down his face, he is already late for school, and he doesn't care. When he arrives at the scene, the house has already been burned down to the ground, leaving only ash behind. The firefighters and the news reporters are packing up their gear, muttering about how tragic it was. He runs up to one of the firemen and breathlessly asks him if they had rescued anybody. The firefighter shakes his head and says, "Sorry, kid. We had one of us go in, and there was nobody in there to save."

He thanks the man, and walks in the direction of his school. He might as well go, he thinks. Maybe she's escaped and is at school right now...Just that slight hope makes him walk faster, and he is at the building in no time.

He enters the room, and there she is, sitting at her desk. The teacher marks him tardy; he doesn't care. He sits down in his seat next to her, and steals glances at her every once in a while. She doesn't look back. When the bell for break rings, he stands up and looks at her and says, "Hey, why weren't you talking to me last night?"

Now she lifts up her head and looks at him. What he sees in her eyes is frightening. They are still the same dark eyes he's known, and yet they are so...empty. Her mouth opens, and words flow.

"Hey, so you reached me? That's cool. Please leave a message after the beep."

Then the bell for the end of break rings, a harsh, droning sound, he blinks. She is gone.

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**1. You can put virtually any het. couple in this story. The characters I had in mind at the time of this story should be pretty obvious.  
2. Born through science boredom (4.5 pages in 35 minutes)  
3. Has to do with the fires in Southern California where some of my relatives and friends live.  
4. Do you think 2 in the morning has any significance? cough cough  
**

**Well...so yeah...A dark story, perhaps...but you know. It's original, and has a theme that everybody can relate to. So that's pretty cool in its own little way.**

**Thanks for reading, and please review!**


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